Don’t buy dumb shit

Overcome the widget and workshop syndrome

One thing that appears to me to be an endemic trait to American culture is buying dumb shit. As a capitalistic nation fueled by consumerism there is an underlying belief that we can buy our way to happiness, competence or credibility. Want to feel popular? Buy fake social media followers. Want to cut dovetails? Buy $1200 of apparatuses from a Canadian woodworker. Just when you think you’ve seen it all a new type of contrived widget that promises to make you better in some way hits the market. 

Woodworking is rife with this. My least favorite are the companies pumping out injection molded plastic jigs and shit. Like for crying out loud we are woodworkers no push stick or taper jig should be plastic (this is also the thing I hate most about Festool, all the plastic.)

Pretty soon peoples' shops are full of tools they never use and sometimes egos to match when in reality they make 1 thing a year over Christmas time and it's a cutting board for aunt Maud.

If the goal is to get in the shop and make shavings then this isn’t getting us there. But what do you do instead? Save a cardboard box.

The box

My shop is pretty bare compared to most serious hobby woodworkers. I mean I have huge cast iron equipment and tons of clamps but other than that the hand tools can all fit in the trunk of a Honda Fit and we are a 3 man shop. Five years ago I implemented the box method. I keep a box underneath a workbench. If I have a tool that I haven’t used in 6 months I ask myself 2 questions. 

1: Is this sentimental? I’m not getting rid of the dovetail saw I made in high school from scratch. I mean it's a paperweight in terms of performance but it reminds me of where I’m from so that goes on the bookshelf in my office.

2. Is this highly specialized? Some tools are highly specialized and difficult to find. For example if I don’t build any chairs for 6 months (highly unlikely) then I’m not purging my 6 degree tapered reamer and travisher.

If the item does not meet either of these two criteria it goes in the box under the bench. This is where tools go to die because I’ve almost never pulled a tool back out and put it on the bench. Once a year I will go through the box and sell or gift everything in it.

What to do instead?

If the compulsion to spend money can’t be overcome, here is my advice. Spend it on things that will get you in the shop making things more (no a Lie Nielsen no1 hand plane will not, not unless you are 5yrs old). So here are a few ideas.

• Pay a babysitter, If you have kids and you haven't gotten shop time for a few weeks, pay a babysitter and go make something for an hour.

• Take a class. Classes not only offer great instruction but they force you to make something and often in great company. There are many competent woodworkers that make their living teaching classes go support them and have a good time. This should blow the tool budget fo awhile once you have paid lodging and shit.

• Buy prepared material. Your time in the shop is precious so save some time and get your lumber pre-surfaced or buy a material kit. That confidence saves you hours of going to the lumberyard or running a lunchbox planer when you could be cutting dovetails. If your lumberyard offers planing services don’t leave without your boards being planed (granted they are competent).

Go make some shavings.